Shame on us for anointing Steve Cohen as the Mets’ savior. He came to baseball with question marks, and his ownership performance has been underwhelming. Add David Stearns, President of Baseball Operations, to the list. Mets fans deserve better.
Mets fans and the New York media hailed Steve Cohen when he bought the Mets, viewing him as a welcome change to the Wilpons. That was then. Attitudes today are different. Despite a $375 million payroll, the Mets finished 2023 with a sub-.500 record (75-87), and recently, the team was rejected by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers instead.
We should have known better, over-celebrating a few ups, including the team making the playoffs in year two with Buck Showalter, bringing back Old-Timers’ Day, honoring several Mets from the past, and signing big-name players like Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, David Robertson, and Francisco Lindor.
Despite those highs, Cohen has had lows, including two losing seasons, a first-round playoff exit after blowing a 10-game lead in the NL East, and dismissing two managers and several general managers. He then hired David Stearns as president of baseball operations to improve the Mets’ farm system and rejuvenate the roster.
Those of us watching closely knew rebuilding the Mets into a competitive team, if not a powerhouse, would take time. However, recent events raise questions about whether that will happen with the current brain trust. For one thing, Stearns hasn’t had a good offseason. He has signed obscure players in the name of depth rather than making bold moves via trades or free agency.
The best move to date was acquiring Adrian Houser, a backend starter. But that addition isn’t getting fans excited, as would have happened had Stearns signed Brandon Woodruff or Corbin Burnes to complement Senga in the rotation. Then there’s the missout on Sonny Gray, who signed with the Cardinals. It makes me wonder if Stearns is doing a Sandy Alderson impression of not wanting to build a team through free agency.
Then, there’s the clumsy way that Cohen and Stearns handled Showalter’s firing and the way the Yamamoto situation was managed. Chalk up both matters to communication–either the lack thereof or the inability to communicate effectively given the situation.
For Cohen’s sake, let’s hope Stearns is the right executive. Currently, though, I’m hard-pressed to say he is. If I’m right, one reason may be because Cohen isn’t what you’d call a personnel guru. After all, Cohen hired and then fired former GM Jared Porter for sending unsolicited, sexually explicit images/lewd text messages to a female journalist. He also quickly went from first to home with two former GMs, Zack Scott and Billy Eppler. Then there’s the still mysterious hiring of Carlos Mendoza as Showwalter’s successor.
Those strikeouts have me wondering. The thought of Pete Alonso leaving as a free agent is frightening. It would be a low point making to when M. Donald Grant traded Tom Seaver for a bunch of filler players.
Cohen and Stearns still have some time to make it here, but to do that, the current pattern needs to change. The Mets are a big-market team, just as the Dodgers and Yankees are, and leadership needs to act that way.
We should have known better than to let the prospect of better days lead our thinking. Results matter.
